SENIOR MPs will this week consider the future of Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine, after a row about his é22,000 pay rise.

A special Commons committee has been set up to investigate the many jobs done by Lord Irvine, including being head of the judges, Speaker of the Lords and a member of the Cabinet.

One Labour MP, Bob Marshall-Andrews, said today there was no place in the 21st century for someone with so much power, who had been appointed by his friend Tony Blair.

The committee will consider whether one man should be involved in the judiciary, parliament and the government at the same time. Labour MP Graham Allen (Nottingham) said the post should be abolished.

He said: "The office of Lord Chancellor is an affront to democracy and it should be split into its respective parts - speaker for the second chamber, a minister of justice and an independent figure in charge of the judiciary."

Mr Marshall-Andrews said that incidents such as the pay rise and expensive wallpaper in his apartments put the nature of the Lord Chancellor's job under the spotlight.

"This is an 800-year-old anomaly, the patronage of princes and kings," said Mr Marshall-Andrews.

"In the 21st century there is no place whatever for someone appointed by the Prime Minister, right in the middle of the Cabinet, chairing three Cabinet committees."

The MP said the worst thing Lord Irvine did last week was nothing to do with his salary - he was the prime mover in spiking plans for an elected House of Lords.

"I wouldn't join the chorus of criticism of the Lord Chancellor on the issue of his pay rise, although it's not been handled well," added Mr Marshall-Andrews.

The announcement that Lord Irvine's é180,000 a year salary was to rise by é22,000 caused widespread anger among MPs and union leaders.

Lord Irvine eventually agreed to accept a more modest 2.25 per cent rise, instead of the 12.6 per cent which would have increased his salary to over é200,000 a year - while a revue is conducted into the whole system which links his pay with judges and senior civil servants.

Today, John Edmonds, of the GMB Union, said he was suspicious about this review of his pay.

"I hope it isn't a little bit of public relations so that we all forget about it and the rise is picked up later. I hope this is a genuine move and that he will get the same increase awarded to other public sector workers. It has to be, otherwise there will be another outcry," said Mr Edmonds.

Chancellor Gordon Brown has denied he put pressure on Lord Irvine to reject the é22,000 pay rise but Shadow Chancellor Michael Howard said the decision was a "humiliating U-turn" for Mr Blair's friend Lord Irvine.